marcus666 wrote:Heikki deserves a good drive, he was treated bad at Mclaren and he only got one year at Renault.
Would be a pleasure to see Kimi and Heikki in Lotus and Grosjean/Alonso at Ferrari!

Although, one thing striked me, why not go back to GP2 (since he hasnt won the serie) and rape all the people who believe they are F1-material?

Heikki is already 32 years old. Going to GP2 is not an option for him. He is no longer a developing young driver to learn something from lower series. Everyone already knows how talented he is. Year ago he was rated 10th best driver at the time, but things changes and he is not getting any younger. Leaving F1 from a back field team means, he will newer come back again. Caterham is his only option unless something strange happens.

Grosjean is 99.99% sure Lotus driver next year. They just want to keep him on his toes to give him a lesson. In GP2 he either crashed or was on podium. That doesn't work in F1. If he had been finishing on points on those races he crashed, Lotus would be now on P3 and it means a lot to the team. He'll get his drive in Lotus for 2013 but then he must be bringing the car to the finish line constantly. That's what the team is hoping for.

"I think that it's a little bit more complex than that," the Frenchman explained, "I don't like the notion of 'pay driver' because I see them more as a commercial element, which obviously is crucial when you are at the back of the grid, [and] you don't attract the sort of TV coverage that the other teams attract. That's a reality. We are not complaining. We have to make our way through the grid, up to the [front] to get more coverage but, before that happens, obviously the drivers are ambassadors, a good commercial vehicle who have a value for any form of sponsors.

"Just talking in terms of contracts, usually we don't have any drivers who are paying for a seat. It's just that he's introducing some sponsors to us who are helping the team to finance the season and finance their salaries. So, in reality, there are no paying drivers as such.

"I don't want to start a polemic, but even with the best drivers in the world, in the first row teams, there are some sponsors who are there also because [the drivers] are there - and I don't think you will qualify any of those drivers as pay drivers."

So, Caterham will have two "pay drivers" next year and Heikki and Petrov are out. Neither of them have enough sponsors to be non-pay driver of Caterham.

Heikki admits that his F1 career is most likely over. He won't be back if he is out now. He still hopes there is a slim chance in Caterham since at least the other seat is open.

One seat in Caterham might be going to Pic. According MTV3 Cyril Abiteboul admits in F1 Magazine's interview working to get Pic into the team. He says he is building a three year plan for Caterham and it includes drivers in long term too.